Car-coupling



UNITED STATES PATENT i FFTCE.

JAMES o. MITCHELL, on sTUARTs DRAFT, AssIGNoRon ONE-I-IALF` To SARAH ELIZABETH RANKIN, OF BASIC CITY, VIRGINIA.

. W CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 521,887,/dated June 26, 1894- `Application filed November 9, 1893. Serial No. 490,475. (No model.)

arts Draft, inthe county of Augusta and yCD 4view of they same.

State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Couplings;

and I do hereby declare the following to be a' f ull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to automatic car couplingsv of the J anney type, or such as are provided with horizontally swinging hooks adapted to engage one another sidewise, and 1ts object is to provide novel meansfor holding two couplings engaged so as to prevent either of them from falling upon the track in case it should be broken in service, such novel means being adapted for attachment to drawheads already in service and for ready removal for the purpose of repairs so that theV whole drawhead need not be thrown away nor put out of service merely on account of breaklng a holder.

To this end my invention consists inthe constructionand combination ot' parts forming a car coupling, hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I, is a longitudinal vertical lsection of that portion of a car coupling which constitutes my invention. Fig. II, is a frontend Fig. III, represents a portion of a car coupling in side elevation showing my invention in service.

5 represents one drawhead and 6 its mate, the two being coupled'together and the head 6 in position as though itwere pulled out of a car and held suspended by the bar 5.

` 7 represents a shelf provided with a cylindrical shank 8, that is tted to telescope within a socket 9. Y

10 is a spring coiled around the shank and acting between a shoulder l1 thereof and the Y inner end of the socket to push the shelf outward. V

l2 is a key through the shank to keep it from being accidentally removed or lost from the socket.

13 is a base-piece of the socket which is to be shaped to flt the under side of that drawhead on which this invention is to beused.

Diiierently shaped drawheads will require differently shaped base-pieces to fit them, but this portion of various drawheads is usually Hat so that one base-piece will t them all and may be fastened thereon with common bolts. When the socket is thus bolted in' place the shelf is located below the mouth of the drawhead and is adapted to slide back underneath the socket ilush with the front end thereof Ywhen met by an incoming drawhead that is very low, and yet this shelf is located at a distance belowits own drawhead a little less than the vertical thickness of each of the drawheads to allow the greatest f practicable latitude for variation in the height of drawheads of different cars and yet prevent two from becoming separated vertically after-they are once coupled. If any two drawheads are near enough to one level to be coupled at all the working of the car will soon raise the lower one so that the shelf will shoot l out under it and then it can not again get low enough to be in danger of uncoupling. If

.the-socket were made integral with the draw- Having thus described my invention, what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

'1. The combination in car couplings of a drawhead adapted to be hooked sidewise to its mate; a shelf provided with a shank; a socket fitted for the said shank to telescope within it and adapted to be bolted to the drawhead with the shelf projecting below the mouth of the drawhead, and a spring yacting between the socket and'shank to project the shelf, substantially as described.

IOO

2. The combination of a socket adapted t0 coupled therewith from falling away from its be bolted to the drawhead of a car coupling; mate. Io e shelf provided with a. shank tted to tele- In testimony whereof Iafx my signature 1n scope within the socket, and a spring actpresence of two witnesses.

5 ing between the socket `mld shank to project JAMES O. MITCHELL.

the shelf substantially as described whereby Witnesses: the shelf may be held below the mouth of WM. Il. DE LACY,

the drawhend to prevent another drawhead M. C. l-IILLYARD. 

